Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of photoperiod on meat quality, oxidative stability, and metabolites of broiler fillet (M. Pectoralis major) muscles. A total of 432 broilers was split among 4 photoperiod treatments [hours light(L):dark(D)]: 20L:4D, 18L:6D, 16L:8D, and 12L:12D. At 42 days, a total of 48 broilers (12 broilers/treatment) was randomly selected and harvested. At 1 day postmortem, fillet muscles were dissected and displayed for 7 days. No considerable impacts of photoperiods on general carcass and meat quality attributes, such as carcass weight, yield, pH, water-holding capacity, and shear force, were found (p > 0.05). However, color and oxidative stability were influenced by the photoperiod, where muscles from 20L:4D appeared lighter and more discolored, coupled with higher lipid oxidation (p < 0.05) and protein denaturation (p = 0.058) compared to 12L:12D. The UPLC-MS metabolomics identified that 20 metabolites were different between the 20L:4D and 12L:12D groups, and 15 were tentatively identified. In general, lower aromatic amino acids/dipeptides, and higher oxidized glutathione and guanine/methylated guanosine were observed in 20L:4D. These results suggest that a photoperiod would result in no considerable impact on initial meat quality, but extended photoperiods might negatively impact oxidative stability through an alteration of the muscle metabolites.